Merge PDF
Combine up to 10 PDFs into a single document, in list order, entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
Image, PDF and DocumentsSplit PDF
Cut one PDF into per-range files, even chunks, or single pages.
Runs in your browser. Nothing is uploaded — your input is processed on this device and discarded when you close the tab.
Your file
Drop a PDF file here, or click to browse. One file at a time, up to 50 MB. Everything is processed on this device only — no file is uploaded.
Pages are numbered from 1 and ranges are inclusive. Each comma-separated entry becomes one part, named in page order.
When a split produces more than one file, the parts are delivered together in a single ZIP download, numbered in page order. A split that produces exactly one file downloads as a plain PDF.
Split PDF is for the moment one document has become too much of a good thing. A 200-page handbook when a colleague only needs chapter three, a morning's scanning bundled into a single file when each invoice belongs to a different client, an attachment a mail server keeps bouncing for its size — this tool divides one PDF into smaller PDFs, along cut lines you decide.
You get three ways to place the cuts: declare each piece yourself with typed ranges, let the tool slice off even chunks of a fixed length, or go all the way down to one file per page. However the division falls, the pieces keep the original's page order in their names, and when there is more than one piece they travel home together inside a ZIP archive assembled on your own device. No server ever sees the document; the tab does the cutting, the zipping and the handing back, and the source file itself is only ever read.
How to use Split PDF
- Bring in the document to divide. Drag it over, or click and browse for it — a single PDF, no larger than 50 MB. Its length in pages is announced as soon as it loads, and a file that turns out to be broken or locked is rejected, by name, at the door rather than after you have planned your cuts.
- Decide what kind of division you want. “One file per range” hands the scissors to you; “Split every N pages” cuts at regular intervals; “Every page its own file” is total separation, one sheet per output.
- Spell out the pieces. For the range mode, write entries separated by commas, mixing lone page numbers with spans that include both ends — 1-3,5,8-10 is the shape of it — and each entry turns into one part. For the chunk mode, all you supply is the number of pages per piece.
- Press Split PDF. Piece by piece, the tool lifts the relevant sheets out of the source and binds each set into its own fresh document. Reading is all that ever happens to your original; its bytes are never rewritten.
- Collect what comes back. A division yielding a single piece arrives as an ordinary PDF download. Several pieces arrive as one ZIP archive; inside, the names run in page order, along the lines of report-part-01.pdf followed by report-part-02.pdf.
- Spot-check the ends. Before forwarding anything, open the opening piece and the closing piece and tally their pages against the plan you typed. A mistyped span is painless to correct, because the source is sitting there exactly as it was, ready for another attempt.
Features
- Three division styles under one roof: hand-declared ranges, regular chunks of N pages, and complete separation into single-page files.
- Typed spans are checked against the real length of the document before a single output is produced, so an impossible request fails with an explanation instead of a half-built archive.
- Piece names carry numbers padded with leading zeros — part-01, part-02, continuing sensibly beyond part-99 — which keeps them sorted correctly in any folder listing.
- Bundling several pieces into one ZIP sidesteps a well-known browser behaviour: a rapid burst of automatic downloads usually gets most of them blocked, while a single archive sails through.
- Sheets transfer without alteration, so selectable text remains selectable, picture quality is preserved, and a page that was stored rotated stays rotated.
- Overlap between ranges is permitted rather than policed, because every piece is assembled independently; a page may quite sensibly appear in two different excerpts.
Worked example
Consider report.pdf, a document of seven pages. Select “Split every N pages” and set N to 3. What lands in your downloads is a ZIP holding three pieces: report-part-01.pdf containing pages 1 to 3, report-part-02.pdf containing pages 4 to 6, and report-part-03.pdf containing page 7 by itself — portions of 3, 3 and 1 pages respectively.
Approach the identical document the other way, typing 1-2,5-6 as ranges. The archive now holds two pieces, each two pages long: report-part-01.pdf carrying pages 1 and 2, and report-part-02.pdf carrying pages 5 and 6. Pages 3, 4 and 7 turn up in no piece at all, simply because no entry you wrote asked for them.
The test suite behind this page opens the very archives the tool produces, inventories their contents, and counts pages piece by piece to confirm both of those outcomes match the figures quoted here.
Common errors and limitations
- A single source per session, capped at 50 MB. Dividing several documents is a matter of repeating the session once for each of them.
- A locked document cannot even be opened by this tool, let alone divided, and it will be identified by name when rejected; produce an unlocked copy in the application that made the file, and divide that copy instead.
- Division does not equal shrinkage. Added together, the pieces weigh about what the source weighed, plus a small overhead per file — cutting helps when a limit applies to each individual file, not when the total itself must fall.
- Chapter headings, bookmarks and the boundaries between scanned items are invisible to the cutter. It knows page positions and nothing else, so the breaks land precisely where your ranges or your chunk length dictate, never where the content suggests.
- Total separation of a huge document means a huge archive: a page for every entry, hundreds of entries, all assembled in tab memory, which can drag on hardware that is short of it.
- Numbering from zero out of habit. If you write software, page 0 feels natural; PDF viewers, and therefore this page, count from 1. An entry beginning at 0 is turned back with a reason given, so renumber rather than argue.
- Hunting for separate downloads that were never sent. Multiple pieces deliberately arrive inside a single archive, for the blocking reason described above. The file to look for in your downloads carries a “-split.zip” ending, and the numbered pieces live inside it.
- Writing a span the wrong way round, like 8-5. A span must climb from its smaller end to its larger end. Reversed entries are rejected and the message identifies the offending entry, because silently flipping it might deliver sheets you never requested.
- Worrying that unlisted pages have been harmed. A page omitted from every range is omitted from the outputs, nothing more dramatic than that. The source document retains each of its pages, intact, indefinitely.
Frequently asked questions
Are my PDFs uploaded to a server?
No. The document is read, split and zipped entirely in your browser. Nothing is transmitted and no copy is kept anywhere else; closing the tab removes the only working copy the tool ever held.
Why do the parts arrive in a ZIP file?
Browsers treat a burst of automatic downloads as suspicious and often block all but the first. Packaging the parts into one ZIP, built on your device, means one download you can rely on. A split that produces a single part skips the ZIP and downloads as a plain PDF.
What page-range formats can I type?
Comma-separated page numbers and inclusive ranges, numbered from 1: for example 1-3,5,8-10 produces parts holding pages 1 to 3, page 5, and pages 8 to 10. A range that runs backwards, a page number of 0, or a page beyond the end of the document produces an explanation instead of a broken file.
Can the same page appear in two parts?
Yes, in per-range mode. Each range is built independently, so entering 1-3,3-5 puts page 3 in both parts. That is deliberate: overlapping excerpts are a normal reason to split by ranges.
Does splitting reduce the file size?
Not overall. Pages are copied without compression, so the parts together are about the size of the original. Splitting helps when a limit applies per file — an email attachment cap, for example — not when you need the total to shrink.
Related PDF tools
Extract Pages
Extract pages like 3,1 or 1-3,5 from a PDF into one new file, in the order listed, processed in your browser.
Image, PDF and DocumentsRemove Pages
Remove pages like 2,4-6 from a PDF and keep the rest in order. Runs in your browser; removing every page is refused.
Image, PDF and DocumentsOrganize PDF
Reorder, rotate and delete PDF pages from a thumbnail grid, with drag and keyboard controls. Runs in your browser.
Image, PDF and DocumentsPrefer everything on one page? The original PDF Toolkit merges, splits and rearranges with one shared file list. The full suite is indexed on the PDF Tools hub.
Related articles
How to Merge and Split PDF Files
Merge several PDFs into one file in the order you choose, or split one PDF by page range — in your browser, with no upload. Includes a tested merge/split example with measured page counts and file sizes, and an honest account of the password-protected case.